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Red Sox pitcher Tanner Houck reacts to news that he needs Tommy John surgery
"It’s gonna be long, it’s gonna be hard, but I’m ready for it. I’ve made peace with it myself.”
The 2025 season has not been kind to Tanner Houck.
Fresh off of earning an All-Star nod in 2024, the Red Sox starter struggled to find his footing this summer — going 0-3 with an 8.04 ERA over nine games before eventually landing on the IL in mid-May.
After months of rehab work and minor-league outings that seemingly didn’t offer signs of improvement, Houck was officially ruled out for the 2025 season on Saturday after the team announced that the 29-year-old pitcher needs Tommy John surgery.
The invasive elbow procedure not only rules out Houck for this season, but also could put most of the 2026 campaign in doubt for him as well.
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Speaking to reporters Sunday at Fenway Park, Houck addressed the procedure and tried to take stock of a season gone awry.
“It’s unfortunate,” Houck said Sunday, per MassLive’s Christopher Smith. “It sucks. It’s a fun team to watch. It’s a fun team to be around. And just knowing I’m not going to be a part of it for the rest of the year, it’s hard. But I know I’ll bounce back better from this.”
Even though advances in medicine have lessened the recovery timeline when it comes to Tommy John surgery, no rough date has been set for Houck, who will undergo surgery “probably midweek.”
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However, Houck expressed optimism that he could return at some point during the 2026 season.
“I know the minimum is probably around the 12-month mark, 12- to the 14-month mark,” Houck said. “With that being said, if everything goes right, 12 months from now, plan on being back out there, running out to the mound at Fenway. But you also got to do it the smart way, the correct way.
“And I gotta be honest with myself. If there’s a point in this where it doesn’t feel right and I need to take a step back, it’s what we’re gonna need to do. But I’m gonna do everything in my power to get back out there at this time next year and be essentially a trade deadline piece.”
Despite his injury woes, Houck stressed that going under the knife now stood as the best move for his long-term playing career — especially when contrasted with less-invasive medical decisions that could have just been “delaying the inevitable.”
For Houck, the strong play of other Red Sox pitchers who have returned from Tommy John surgery like Lucas Giolito and Garrett Whitlock offered hope that he could regain his form in the coming years.
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“Look at what they’ve done this year, it’s incredible,” Houck said. “So it’s just about trusting day to day work. It’s gonna be long, it’s gonna be hard, but I’m ready for it. I’ve made peace with it myself.”
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